Mass Effect 4: The Shadows Beyond
by Superguy559
Summary: It's the year 2386 and the galaxy once again celebrates the defeat of the Reaper menace. But after a new threat arrives, a new hero will have to step up and face it head on.


Mass Effect 4: The Shadows Beyond

In the year 2186, organic life in the galaxy known as the Milky Way fought for its very survival. An external force dubbed "The Reapers" had returned once again to enforce their dreaded cycle of extinction. However, due to the brave actions of the man known only as Commander Shepard, they were defeated and put to work for the good of the galaxy.

Now two hundred years later, the galaxy celebrates the anniversary of that fateful day, little knowing of the danger that approaches.

The danger that lies out there in the shadows beyond…

Chapter 1

It was eight o'clock in the evening and the streets of London bustled with excitement, as the masses busied about readying themselves for the celebrations that tonight promised. Today was the two hundredth anniversary of The Battle of Earth, a celebration rivalling that of Christmas and New Year in terms of its scope and importance.

But like any holiday there were those who honestly couldn't give a shit. One of these people was Captain Doverman of the Alliance 3rd fleet. He was currently on shore leave for the holiday, but secretly wished he was back on his ship doing his job. Being surrounded by all these stupid street decorations and holoscreen advertisements, offering him everything from "something for that special someone" to "a game that will really please the kids", made him want to come back to this street fully equipped and start shooting until there was nothing left.

The only reason he had come down to London at all was that his crew had practically begged him to join in at the party that was being held at The Salty Sailor, a pub well known for its military customers. He managed to get past the shopping district and make his way to the recreational tower centre. It was a shining metal obelisk of hedonism, were entrainment of _every _kind could be found (provided it was legal).

He walked inside and looked for a way to get to the upper floors. Hopefully not an elevator though, two hundred years of technological progress and they were _still _too slow. Thankfully that's not what he saw, however it wasn't exactly a good substitute in his mind. It was one of those new teleporters that were slowly being installed everywhere nowadays. Doverman made a huge sigh, those things always made him feel like he was going to be sick, but at least it was quick. He made his way across the reception area, bumping into humans and aliens of all kinds before walking into the orange coloured cupboard like area. A cheerful female voice then entered his ears. "Good evening Captain Doverman, and welcome to the Quantum Leap Entertainment Centre. Which floor would you like to go to? Please select from the list in front of you."

In front of where he was standing an orange hologram popped up, showing a list of all the different areas available. The selection ranged from the normal affair such as cinemas, theatres and restaurants, all the way down to the more… specialised areas such as gentlemen's clubs and mood stimulant centres. However those selections were not available to pick if the machine registered that you were too young… not that that stopped some of the cleverer kids from getting in once or twice.

He found where he was looking for after scrolling through dozens of other establishments and pushed the button. He was immediately enveloped by a bright orange light, and then as quick as it came he was at his whisked away to his destination. The pub was quite large, big enough to hold the five hundred permanent crewmembers that now sat there drinking and eating light snack food. When they saw their Captain bent over trying not to be sick, they let out a good loud cheer that he had made it. When the Captain finally got over his sickness, he looked up and forced a smile. He could tell that they had been drinking by their overly happy demeanour, and while he wasn't much of a drinker himself, he could hardly fault them for enjoying themselves this day. Not that this made it any more bearable to see.

He looked over to a table by the holowindows and saw his three closest crewmembers. From left to right there was Lieutenant Ridley Smith, Yeoman Darem Wardra and Chief Pilot Avora Aleina, the last two being a Turian and an Asari respectively. He sat down and ordered a drink, water with ice.

"Hey Captain, you decided to join us!" The Lieutenant said.

"Yeah, we were just starting to have fun!" The Yeoman said with a laugh, a laugh that was soon cut off when he saw the Captain glare at him. "Sorry." He said bowing his head.

The Chief Pilot on the other hand said nothing; she only looked outside at the festivals that were starting.

"Hey what's wrong?" Ridley said seeing his Captain's unhappy face.

Doverman looked at him, then looked at Warda, and slowly loosened his frown. "No I'm the one who's sorry; you're just having fun like everyone else here." He reclined in his chair and gulping down his beverage. "It's just you know what I'm like about parties, and I've _never_ seen the point of giving most soldiers the day off today for something that happened two hundred years ago!"

"Those events still hold relevance." The voice came from Avora, soft yet monotone in their delivery. The Captain looked at her, but was then taken aback when he saw an unexpected, yet not unfamiliar sight. There outside the building a Reaper was flying past, its eyes shining through the barrier windows like bright blue floodlights. It wasn't an unusual sight now that they were the galaxies' go-to work force, but the sight of one never failed to send a shiver up Doverman's spine.

"Well now that you mention it when you have something like that… _thing_ out there, you can't help but be reminded of that day." He took a deep breath. "I still say they should all be destroyed, we've all seen how destructive they are; remember the Krogan civil war? The war that only lasted five hours? Those things destroyed the uprising so quickly and mercilessly… I don't know about you three but there's just something _wrong _about them, I mean these are the same Reapers that wiped out countless civilisations if I remember my history correctly." He wiped his brow of sweat.

"That's ridiculous to worry about!" Warda said. "Those Krogan had it coming! Anyway the Reapers have worked for us ever since the great Commander Shepard reprogramed them."

"Commander Shepard…" The Captain thought. That's all you ever heard about around this date. Commander Shepard this and Commander Shepard that, it was everywhere! From the movies, to the extranet, to the omniscreens, to the word of mouth it was always the same story. It had slight variations from person to person as his activities weren't all strictly documented (and if they were then were _highly_ classified), but the story always followed along the lines of: "The great Commander Shepard! The man who single handily brought together the greatest rag-tag team of soldiers, scientists and rouges and saved the galaxy three times running! The last ending in his tragic sacrifice." All in all to say that he had been turned into a martyr/messiah figure would be the biggest understatement of the century. There were even stories about him dying and then _coming back from the dead._

Naturally Doverman didn't believe most of the hype (especially that coming back from the dead nonsense); he simply believed that Shepherd had been good soldier who had done his best to do his duty, and in the end a soldier can't do more than that.

And so they sat there in the room, surrounded by laughter and decorations as the clock approached 11:27 PM, the exact time that the Reapers stopped attacking and war ended. It was 11:00 PM and all the people in the room were now watching the omniscreen. The ceremonies had started and what a ceremonies they were! From all across the galaxy performers of all races and genders put on displays of their appreciation, from dance performances, all the way to speeches and other unusual displays of affection, such as an Elcor reading a passage from Shakespeare. Doverman looked over to his men and a feeling of joy overtook him, washing away all of his cynicism about this whole holiday affair. In truth this happened every year, he would get all wound up about today and feel that the inevitable parties that his crew through were like going to the dentist in terms of looking forward to it, and then once there would get into the swing of things. So before he knew it he was cheering along as the ceremony came near the time of remembrance.

The cameras suddenly switched to the Sheppard memorial in central London. It was placed exactly were the Conduit had once been, it had seemed appropriate since that had been the last place anyone had ever seen Sheppard in the flesh, bravely ascending towards his destiny. A woman was standing there in front of a huge statue of the Commander. It depicted him bravely holding a gun to the sky in defiance of the evil force. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen! The time is now 11:26 and we are just moments away from the exact time that the legendry Commander Sheppard ascended to the Alliance Central Satellite, then known as the Citadel, and set off the shockwave that savedlife as we know it!"

A huge cheer erupted in the pub as the soldiers got into the spirit of things. Doverman even joined in at first, but stopped when he saw that Avora was just sitting there, in complete silence with eyes as black as the pits of hell. "What's wrong, pilot?" he asked her, shaking her by the shoulder. It was only then that he noticed others in the pub doing exactly the same thing: not cheering and just sitting there completely still. "What's wrong with these people?" He thought. But that thought was interrupted when the timer behind the reporter started the countdown to zero hour, and the pub and nearly everyone else in the galaxy watching started chanting along.

"20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15…" It went. Warda had started banging his litre glass of Turian brandy on the table in unison with the beats, while Lieutenant Smith started head banging along, letting his cheap party hat come off his head. Doverman tried to concentrate, as he looked at the people affected there seemed to be a pattern about them…

"14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8…" He thought and thought, but then something seemed to change. The affected people started slurring random nonsense and were swaying gently side to side.

"7, 6, 5…" They then fell completely over, knocking drinks and party snacks all over the floor. Some of the less enthralled crew noticed finally and tried to help them.

"4, 3…" Then the Captain realised what he was connected.

"2…" All of the people that had fallen over…

"1!" Were biotics.

"HAPPY-" a huge roar echoed throughout the bar and a huge wave of black coloured energy blasted past Doverman and his crew. They were sent flying in one direction, crashing into the holowindows, thankfully the engineering behind them didn't let up.

All over the galaxy the shockwave thundered past every world, transmitted by the mass relays. People were sent flying to their deaths if unlucky, or simply knocked on the ground if fortunate. Biotics caught in the blast started convulsing on the floor uncontrollably, letting spill out bodily fluids of all kinds and screaming in torment.

And then as fast as it came it went, as if nothing had happened.

To be continued…

Authors note:

So here it is; my first serious story to be published. This took a while for me to complete, as I wanted to create a future world for Mass Effect that the games deserve.

Also while writing this I saw that in the future of that universe, Sheppard could be seen as a sort of Christ figure. Think about it; he does good for the galaxy by performing miracles (saving the day despite the overwhelming odds), attracts a group of apostles (companions), dies and then is resurrected (killed by Collectors and then brought back by the Illusive Man), then ascends to heaven (rises into the Citadel via Condit) and if you pick the control ending, becomes an immortal God like being.

Please review this and tell me what you think.


End file.
